State seeks runoff rules to curb algae

Wednesday

Jun 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2013 at 1:02 PM

Eager to stem the spread of toxic algae in Lake Erie and inland lakes, Ohio officials are seeking new powers to curb pollution from farms. A plan circulated among state agencies, lawmakers, farming lobbyists and environmental advocates would give the Department of Natural Resources the authority to cite farmers for pollution if rain washes too much fertilizer off their fields. Farmers also would have to undergo training and receive a certificate from the Ohio Department of Agriculture before they could spread fertilizer.

Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch

Eager to stem the spread of toxic algae in Lake Erie and inland lakes, Ohio officials are seeking new powers to curb pollution from farms.

A plan circulated among state agencies, lawmakers, farming lobbyists and environmental advocates would give the Department of Natural Resources the authority to cite farmers for pollution if rain washes too much fertilizer off their fields. Farmers also would have to undergo training and receive a certificate from the Ohio Department of Agriculture before they could spread fertilizer.

Those changes are in a Senate bill introduced yesterday. So is a provision that would keep the public from seeing any individual farmer’s fertilizer and manure-management plans.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Cliff Hite, a Findlay Republican and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he wants to gather comments from farmers and farm businesses over the summer.

“When you do a paradigm shift of thinking for the No. 1 industry in Ohio, it should be vetted properly,” Hite said.

Changes in state law might be necessary to reduce the toxic blue-green algae that appear in Lake Erie, Grand Lake St. Marys, Buckeye Lake and other Ohio lakes each summer, he said. At stake are billions of dollars in annual tourism, the health of aquatic wildlife and public safety.

“This is a huge concern,” Hite said.

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are common in most Ohio lakesbut grow thicker when feeding on phosphorus in fertilizers, manure and sewage that are washed into nearby streams by rain. The algae produce liver and nerve toxins that can sicken people and kill pets and wildlife.

Natural Resources officials declared Grand Lake St. Marys a “watershed in distress,” and nearby farmers submitted plans this year to limit manure runoff.

The state lacks the authority to limit commercial fertilizer runoff, a key contributor to Lake Erie’s algae problem. That’s one reason state officials are asking farmers in Lake Erie’s drainage basin to voluntarily limit fertilizer runoff.

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation officials said they need to study the draft bill before commenting. The Farm Bureau mailed letters to farmers in December and January, warning that if they don’t limit polluted runoff, the government would order them to do so.

Erica Hawkins, an Ohio Department of Agriculture spokeswoman, said farmers would apply for a fertilizer certificate in the same way they obtain pesticide certificates.

“It would provide tools (farmers) need to make good choices on what’s going into the ground,” Hawkins said of the training.

In a statement, Department of Natural Resources officials said that expanding their authority to include fertilizer would help “improve water quality now and for generations.”

As for shielding farmers’ management plans, the agency said that it wants to protect sensitive information about farms’ business practices.

“A farmer who’s simply a better businessman than another farmer shouldn’t lose his or her advantage because he or she worked to improve the environment,” the agency said.

Hite and state Sen. Bob Peterson, a Republican from Sabina, said the draft bill likely will be changed this fall.

Peterson, who farms 1,800 acres near Washington Court House, said he might favor moving the Department of Natural Resources’ powers to regulate manure and fertilizer pollution to the Department of Agriculture.

“I think that’s one of the great discussion points,” Peterson said. “We need to have a coordinated approach that puts this in the hands of the best agency to serve the people who are regulated.”

shunt@dispatch.com

@CDEnvironment

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